The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (Ordo Militaris et Hospitalis Sancti Lazari Hierosolymitani) is an order of chivalry originally founded at a leper hospital after 1098 by the crusaders of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was established to treat leprosy.[1]

The original[year needed] symbol of the order was a green cross. This was in later centuries changed to a green eight-pointed Maltese Cross. The word lazarette, in some languages being synonymous with leprosarum, is believed to also be derived from the hospitaller Order of St Lazarus, these edifices being adopted into quarantine stations in the fifteenth century when leprosy was no longer the scourge it had been in earlier centuries.[2] The use of the green cross as a universal symbol of pharmacies worldwide also is believed to have originated with the Order of St. Lazarus, though there is no documentation to substantiate this.

After several centuries, the order went into decline and ceased to perform its original function of caring for lepers and managing leprosaria. Starting with Pope Innocent VIII in the 1489, attempts were made to merge the order and its land holdings with the Knights of St. John. This was resisted by the order in most countries where it still retained its houses. Eventually the Order of St. Lazarus in Italy was merged with the Order of St. Maurice under the Royal House of Savoy; while in in France it was united administratively with the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel under the Royal House of France.[3] Today, the Savoyan Order still exists today as the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus; while the French foundation exists as the internationally-based Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. Events in the late 20th century have resulted into a series of schisms of the MHOSLJ originally into two main "obediences" - the Malta and Paris Obediences. In 2004, the Paris Obedience underwent a further schism with the formation of the Orléans Obedience. The Malta and Paris Obediences reunited in 2008 under the leadership of Grand Master Don Carlos Gereda y de Borbón, Marquis of Almazán and the Spiritual Protection of His Beatitude Gregorios III, Greek Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, of All the East, of Jerusalem and Alexandria. The Orléans Obedience remains under the Grand Mastership of H.E. Jan Dobrzensky z Dobrzenic.[4]

From its foundation in the 12th century, members of the Order of Saint Lazarus dedicated themselves to two ideals:[5]

aid to those suffering from the disease of leprosy

the defense of the Christian faith

The first mention of the order in surviving sources dates from the third decade of the 12th century. The order was initially founded as a leper hospital outside the city walls of Jerusalem, but hospitals dependent on the Jerusalem hospital were eventually established in other towns in the Holy Land, notably in Acre, and in various countries in Europe particularly in Southern Italy Capua, Hungary, Switzerland, France [Boigny], and England Burton Lazars.[6] It is unclear when the order assumed a military role but militarization probably occurred towards the end of the twelfth century. The four classes of members – brothers, knights, clerics and donors – of the Brothers of Saint Lazarus in Jerusalem were acknowledged by Pope Gregory IX in a Bull of 1227. However, definite evidence of their active participation in military campaigns is only documented in 1234 when Pope Gregory IX made a general appeal for aid to the order to clear debts contracted in the defense of the Holy Land. The Ordinis Fratrum & Militum Hospitalis Leprosorum S. Lazari Hierosolymitani under Augustinian Rule was confirmed by Papal Bull Cum a nobis petitur of Pope Alexander IV in April 1255. The order established "Lazar houses" across Europe to care for lepers, and was well supported by other military orders which compelled brethren in their rule to join the order on contracting leprosy.

The order remained primarily a hospitaller order but it did take part in a number of battles, including the Battle of La Forbie on 17 October 1244 (where all of the lazar brethren who fought died) and the Battle of Al Mansurah on 8–11 February 1250. The leper knights were protected by a number of able-bodied knights but in times of crisis the leper knights themselves would take up arms. The order quickly abandoned their military activities after the fall of Acre in 1291.[7]

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the order lost all its European holdings in England, Scotland, and Central Europe as a result of the Ottoman incursions or the Reformation revolution. By the mid-16th century, the order had retained a significant presence only in France and in Italy.

In 1572, Pope Gregory XIII merged the Italian foundation of the Order of Saint Lazarus with the Order of Saint Maurice (founded in 1434) as the Ordine dei SS Maurizio e Lazzaro. This became a national order of chivalry on the unification of Italy in 1861, but has been suppressed by law since the foundation of the Republic in 1946. King Umberto II did not abdicate his position as fons honorum however, and the head of the former Royal House of Savoy remains the Grand Master of the Italian foundation of the order today. Since 1951 the order has not been recognised officially by the Italian state. The House of Savoy in exile continued to bestow the order. Today it is granted to persons eminent in the public service, science, art, letters, trade, and charitable works. While the continued use of those decorations conferred prior to 1951 is permitted in Italy, the crowns on the ribbons issued before 1946 must be substituted for as many five pointed stars on military uniforms.

The generally accepted Grand Master of the order is Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, the current head of the House of Savoy. Some of Vittorio Emanule's policies as Grand Master have generated controversy. All three of his sisters have resigned from their positions as dames of the order. Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy has criticised her brother for instituting "the payment of membership fees [and] activities such as the sale of objects with the Savoy coat of arms and credit cards of the order". In 2006, Vittorio Emanuele's cousin, Amedeo of Aosta, declared himself Head of the Savoy dynasty and thus Grand Master de jure. For this reason the grand magistry is now contested.

In 1154, King Louis VII of France gave the Order of Saint Lazarus a property at Boigny near Orléans which was to become the headquarters of the order outside of the Holy Land. Later, after the fall of Acre in 1291 the Knights of St. Lazarus left the Holy Land and moved first to Cyprus, then Sicily and finally back to Boigny, which had been raised to a barony in 1288. In 1308 King Philip IV of France gave the order his temporal protection. Again, in 1604 Henry IV of France re-declared the French branch of the order a protectorate of the French Crown, and in 1608 the order was united in its management with the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel into the Ordres Royaux, Militaires & Hospitaliers de Saint Lazare de Jérusalem & de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel réunis. This amalgamation eventually received canonical acceptance on 5 June 1668 by a bull issued by Cardinal Legate de Vendôme under Papal authority of Clement IX. Right through the 17-18th centuries, while enjoying the protection of the French Crown, the order remained under apostolic authority. Unlike the situation with the Savoyian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus where a complete merger took place creating one order, the French branch was not completely merged with the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and individuals were still be admitted to the latter order but not to the Order of Saint Lazarus [8]

During the French Revolution a decree of 30 July 1791 suppressed all royal and knightly orders. Another decree the following year confiscated all the order's properties. The Holy See, which had originally created the order, on the other hand did not suppress the order. Louis, Count of Provence, then Grand Master of the order, who later became Louis XVIII, continued to function in exile and continued admitting various dignitaries to the order.[9] Scholars differ in their views regarding the extent to which the order remained active during and after the French Revolution. There is however no doubt of its continuing existence during this time. In different museums, there are preserved a number of paintings of Russian and Baltic nobles, admitted to the order after 1791. In this list are general John Lamb, Prince Suvorov, count Pahlen, count Sievers etc. Some of the new knights are listed in Almanach Royal from 1814 to 1830. King Louis XVIII, the order's protector, and the duc de Châtre, the order's lieutenant-general, both died in 1824. The Protectorship post was assumed by Charles X and Henry V until 1830 with Jean-Louis Beaumont d’Autichamp acting as governing commandeur. In 1830, a royal decree caused the order to lose its royal protection; however, it remained under apostolic authority since the Holy See did not promulgate any contrarius actus in respect to either of the two orders during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[10]

After 1830 the French foundation of the Order of Saint Lazarus continued under the governance of a council of officers.[11] Documentation to the subsequent decades is unavailable, but the order is documented to have been active philanthropically in Haifa, while contemporary biographies do mention late 19th-century individuals as having been members of the Order of St. Lazarus. Traditionally it is believed[by whom?] that around 1841, the Council of Officers invited the Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic ChurchMaximos III Mazloum to become Spiritual Protector of the order, thence re-establishing a tangible connection with the order's early roots in Jerusalem. By 1850, under the authority of the Patriarch, the order had consolidated and numbered about twenty knights supporting the rebuilding of the Mount Carmel Monastery in Haifa, Israel, then under the responsibility of the Melkite Patriarch.[12] On 27 May 2012, the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch signed a declaration at Kevelaer in Germany confirming the continuity of the order under the Patriarchs of Antioch since his predecessor Maximos III Mazlûm had accepted the role of Spiritual Protector of the order in 1841.[13]

In the years that followed, new knights are said[by whom?] to be admitted including in 1853 admiral Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin and admiral Louis Édouard Bouët-Willaumez; in 1863 comte Louis François du Mesnil de Maricourt (d. 1865), comte Paul de Poudenx (d.1894); in 1865 the order admitted comte Jules Marie d'Anselme de Puisaye who was followed in 1875 by the vicomte de Boisbaudry; baron Yves de Constancin in 1896, who was later to become commander of the Hospitaller Nobles of Saint Lazarus, a knight of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and of Order of Saint Anna of Russia. In 1880, comte Jules Marie d'Anselme de Puisaye was admitted to the order as a hospitaller while living in Tunisia. The order continued to attract members from the French nobility and by the early 20th century it was attracting knights from further afield, notably Spain and Poland.[14]

In 1910, a new statute was drawn up.[15] This statute explicitly placed the governance of the Order in the hands of the Magistracy whose decisions were sovereign and irrevocable, thus laicizing the Order. His Beatitude the Patriarch of Antioch, of All the East, of Jerusalem and of Alexandria was re-confirmed as the Supreme Pontiff. Correspondence at this time suggests an earlier relationship of the Order with the Melkite Patriarchy. In 1930 don Francisco de Borbón y de La Torre, Duke of Seville, Grand Bailiff of the Order in Spain was appointed as lieutenant-general of the Grand Magistracy and in 1935 was elected as Grand Master re-establishing the office, vacant since 1814.[16] There has since been a Spanish Borbon Grand master at the helm of the Order except for a short interregnum where the Grand master belonged to the French Bourbon family.

In 1961 Col. Robert Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, was appointed Bailiff and Commissioner-General for the Order in the English-speaking world with responsibility for expanding the Order's membership in that area. Up to then, non-Catholic Christians had been accepted only as affiliate members of the Order. Gayre accepted the appointment on condition that henceforth the Order would become ecumenical and that non-Catholic Christians would be eligible for full membership. The Paris authorities reluctantly agreed and Gayre, took as a model to emulate the Most Venerable Order of St. John.[17] From this time the Order began to identify itself as an Ecumenical Order of Chivalry although the majority of its members and clergy remained Roman Catholic.

In 1969, disagreement relating to the management and direction of the Order led to a major schism which was to result into two major fractions that came to be termed the Malta Obedience led by a series of Spanish Bourbon Grand masters and the Paris Obedience led by members of the de Brissac family as Grand masters. The decades that followed were punctuated by a series of attempts at reuniting the two branches. In 2004, a fraction of the Paris Obedience broke off from the de Brissac leadership and formed the Orleans Obedience under the headship of Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou and enjoying the temporal protection of the Head of the Royal House of France Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris.[18] In 2012 as declared again 31 January 2014, His Royal Highness (to avoid legal issues with a Swiss schism of the Order), temporarily, as history shows, removed his royal protection from the Orleans Obedience.[19] However, on September 8, 2014 Monseigneur the Count of Paris restored his temporal protection of St. Lazarus (by jur Sanguinis) and attached it as a Lieutenancy to the revived l’Ordre Royal et Souverain de l'Etoile et de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel.[20] This amalgamation was established to defend the cultural heritage of France and to assure that the Order of St. Lazarus continues its hospitaller missions of mercy and care. [21] A declaration published by the Order of St. Lazarus's by the St. Lazarus Grand Magisterium, its Government Council and its Constitutional Council welcomed this amalgamation under Le Monseigneur le Comte, de Jure Henry VII, King of France, as affirming again, "more than ever" the legitimacy of the order. [22] An attached declaration confirmed that the protection of St. Lazarus by the Royal House of France was represented within the order by HRH Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orelans, Duke d'Anjou as Grand Master Emeritus and Grand Prior of France.[23] Moreover, the Count of Paris, noted in his blog, that the statutes of the Ancient combined Orders, as well as those of the attached Lieutenancy of Saint Lazarus, were, in accordance with the 1901 French Law on Associations, deposited and accepted by the Grand Chancellor of the National Order of the Legion of Honor.[24]

In 2008, the previous Malta and Paris Obediences formally reunited under the headship of Carlos Gereda y de Borbón and the Spiritual Protectorship of Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch. On 27 May 2012, the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch signed a declaration at Kevelaer in Germany confirming the continuity of the Order under the Patriarchs of Antioch since his predecessor Maximos III Mazlûm had accepted the role of Spiritual Protector of the Order in 1841.[25]

The modern purpose of the Order is to uphold and defend the Christian faith, to assist and help the sick and vulnerable, to promote and uphold the Christian principles of chivalry and to work for Christian unity. In recent years the Order participate in worldwide humanitarian efforts. For example, it has been engaged in a major charitable program to revive Christianity in Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and the Near East: Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories. Millions of dollars worth of food, clothing, medical equipment and supplies have been distributed in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. Because of this experience, the European Community commissioned the order to transport more than 21.000 tons in food to the hungry in Russia. The Order organized food aid and managed reconstruction-projects after the Tsunami Catastrophe in Indonesia.[26][27][28] The various jurisdictions still undertake to support the modern fight against Hansen's Disease.

In Spain, the Orden Hospitalaria de San Lazaro de Jerusalen was recognised by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior in 1940. This was reiterated in 1946 by a decree signed by General Franco which associated the Order with the National fight against leprosy, skin disorders and sexual diseases..[29] In addition, the King Alfonso XIII, then Head of the Borbón Family, in 1935 allowed H.R.H. Francisco de Paula de Borbón y de la Torre, Duke of Seville and Grandee of Spain to assume the post of the 44th Grand Master of the Order. This Spanish recognition of the Order had persisted since. In recent years, King Juan Carlos I of Spain allowed his distant cousin don Carlos Gereda y de Borbón to accept the position of Grand Master of the "United Malta-Paris" branch of the Order in 2008, following the reunion of the previous Paris Obedience under Duc de Brissac with the Malta Obedience under the Duc de Seville. Within the Kingdom of Spain many nobles are members of the Order and the Cronista de Armas de Castilla y León allows the use of the cross and insignia of the Order of Saint Lazarus when registering coats of arms to members of the order. Unfortunately this branch has close contacts with the Freemasonry.

In France, the Order was placed again under the protection of the Royal House of France in 1967 when the Head of the House allowed H.R.H. Prince Charles Philippe d ’Orleans, Duke of Nemours, Vendome and Alencon to assume the post of the 46th Grand Master. Following the split of the Paris Obedience in 2004 that led to the establishment of the Orléanist obedience of the Order of Saint Lazarus under Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou, the Head of the Royal House of France Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris re-established his temporal protection.[30] In 2010, the Prince resigned and the present Grand Master of the Orléanist obedience is Count Jan Dobrzenský z Dobrzenicz. At the same time there was a further split within the Orléans Obedience in 2010, requiring the Count of Paris to clarify that his temporal protection would remain with the obedience under Count Jan Dobrzenský z Dobrzenicz (Orléanist) as opposed to those who had illegally broken away to form their own group under the leadership of Count Philippe Piccapietra who had previously been a member of the team led by Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou. On January 31, 2014 the Count of Paris expressly stated that only he can represent the Royal House of France and that "cette protection temporelle leur a été retirée par ma démission es qualités, notifiée à Pâques 2012. .... Toute référence à une quelconque protection temporelle actuelle de la Maison Royale de France, est donc pure affabulation et mensonge".[19] which he reconstituted again, at least temporarily in February 2014. [31]

The Holy See can only formally recognise orders of chivalry that are under papal jurisdiction or that of the Holy See or are formally-constituted Dynastic Orders or formally-constituted National Orders of Merit. The Order of Saint Lazarus does not fall under either of these categories.[32] This has not precluded Catholic prelates from joining the Order. A number of prominent Catholic prelates have acted as chaplains to the Order. Most notably cardinal Paskai former Primate of Hungary who is the spiritual protector to the Paris/Orléans obedience of the order.[33] Previously cardinal Basil Hume was a member of the Order in England as is his successor cardinal Murphy O'Connor. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell[34][35] is a former national chaplain and member of the Order in Australia. The Spanish Obedience enjoys the spiritual protection of the Melchite Patriarch of Antioch and Jerusalem. The Order has also been recognised by the Catholic primate of Spain who is Patron of the Grand Priory of Spain.[36] Cardinal Dominik Duka is Chaplain General and a Grand Cross of the Orléans obedience,[37] while the Most Reverend Archbishop Michele Pennisi, Abbot and Archbishop of Monreale (Sicily, Italy), Abbot of Santa Maria del Bosco is Ecclesiastical Grand Prior of the United Malta-Paris obedience.[38]

In the United Kingdom the Order has counted several senior aristocrats among its membership. The Rt. Hon. Earl Ferrers was the grand prior of England and Wales (Malta Obedience) until March 2012 when he was replaced by the 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury who was replaced in 2013 by the Marquess of Lothian. The Baron of Fetternear is grand prior of Great Britain (Orléans Obedience). In Scotland Viscount Gough is head of the Grand Bailiwick of Scotland. In Scotland, the arms of the Order were matriculated by the Lord Lyon King of Arms on 3 August 1967, who confirmed the undifferentiated arms of the Order as born prior to 1672, thus recognizing that the present Order is the continuation of the Order of 1672.

The Grand Priory of Australia is under the patronage of the Governor General Quentin Bryce.[39] In New Zealand the Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae, is a knight and patron of the order and the Māori King Tuheitia is a Knight Commander of the Order. In 2007, king Kigeli V Ndahindurwa of Rwanda accepted the honour of knight grand cross in the order.

In Ireland, the O'Conor Don, Prince of Connacht, successor to the High Kingship of Ireland is a knight of justice in the order as well as Juge d'Armes of the Grand Priory of Ireland.[40] Other noble families are also represented among the Order's membership in Ireland including O'Morchoe, Bunbury and Guinness.

The Order is also recognized by the governments of the Czech Republic,[41] the Republic of Croatia,[42] the Republic of Hungary.[43]

Membership of the Order of Saint Lazarus is by invitation only and is an honour granted by the Grand Magistry of the order. The order include among their members people of the European nobility, academics, politicians and senior clergy. Membership in the order is divided into two classes, knights of justice and knights of magistral grace, the former is restricted to members of families with noble titles. All members of the order are invested in one of the following ranks, regardless of whether they qualify for justice or magistral grace:

Gentlemen who are invested in the rank of knight (KLJ) or higher are entitled to the prenominal Chevalier and women invested in the rank of Dame or higher are entitled to the prenominal Dame. Clergy may be admitted into the Order in one of the ranks as assistant chaplain, chaplain, senior chaplain, ecclesial commander and ecclesial grand cross. There is also a companionate which is often used to honour individuals who have supported the work of the order or who have made a significant contribution to society.[44][45]

For the Order of Saint Lazarus ceremonial occasions, such as investitures, the members wear distinctive vestments and insignia. The mantle of the order is a black cloak with a green velvet collar and the cross of the order sewn onto the left side. The mantle is always worn at religious ceremonies. In addition to the mantle and insignia members of the order normally wear white gloves and ladies may also wear a mantilla in church.

The insignia of a knight is a badge with military trophy pendant from a green neck ribbon, and a golden breast star. Dames of the order wear the badge with wreath of laurel and oak springs from a ribbon bow and a golden breast star. A green button hole rosette may also be worn on a business suit by gentlemen of the order.[46]

Apart from The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem there are other organizations or associations based on the Lazarus tradition but who claim no historical links with the medieval Order. These include The Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (United Grand Priories) founded 1995 inspired by the original order[47] and the Corps Saint Lazarus International (CSLI).[48] While these organizations also have a well-recognized charity agenda, they are not recognized by the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem and do not enjoy the protection of the Royal Houses of France, Spain or Savoy or the Patriarchs of Antioch.

^The Croatian Government promulgated and published on 6 May 1992 in Zagreb the Projet de Décret de Reconnaissance which recognises The Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem as an Order of Knighthood legitimately active in the sovereign territory of Croatia.